Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)

I am stunned by the material that was released under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. I accept that this is a series of options as opposed to recommendations but the people and those who represent them on the Opposition benches should be entitled to see the options. Going through the report, there are pages and pages of blacked-out measures. That is not transparent governance.

People are entitled to some appreciation of the thinking of the Department. We face one of the most crucial budgets in the history of the State and the Minister and her Department are withholding important information that ought to be put in the public domain so different elements of civil society and those affected can look at the options available.

This has fed into the findings of the McCarthy report and the Government has been completely irresponsible in forcing Mr. McCarthy to defend his own report. The only Cabinet Minister with the gumption to defend any of the recommendations in the report is the Minister for Finance. Every other Minister has failed to stand up and be counted. There is a proposal for savings of €1.8 billion in the Department of Social and Family Affairs and no one on the Opposition benches is any the wiser as to where those savings will come from.

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